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Blutsauger
Bloodsuckers - A Marxist Vampire Comedy
Germany 2021
produced by Kirill Krasovski for Faktura Film, WDR, arte, Ludwig Kameraverleih, Maier Bros., The Post Republic
directed by Julian Radlmaier
starring Aleksandre Koberidze, Lilith Stangenberg, Alexander Herbst, Juan Felipe Amaya González, Andreas Döhler, Anton Gonopolski, Martin Hansen, Corinna Harfouch, Daniel Hoesl, Kyung-Taek Lie, Michael Baute, Mareike Beykirch, Bruno Derksen, Darja Lewin, Marie Rathscheck
written by Julian Radlmaier
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Somewhere in Germany, the 1920s: While a nearby reading circle already
discusses the ideas of Karl Marx and speculates whether Marx's vampires
are real or metaphorical, in her nearby mansion Countess Octavia (Lilith
Stangenberg), who owns most of the region, can't let go of the olden times
- even if she insists her servant Jakob (Alexander Herbst), who's of
course madly in love with her, is actually her "personal
assistant", as a sign that she's open to new ideas, flimsy as they
might be. And then she stumbles upon a Russian baron, Lyowushka
(Aleksandre Koberidze), and insists upon him staying with her, even if she
knows nothing about him - and indeed, in the first night he tries to empty
her safe, as it turns out he's actually an actor from the Sergei
Eisenstein (Anton Gonopolski) movie October, who played Trotzki but
his scenes were cut when Stalin had a fall-out with Trotzki. And now he
needs money to make a reel to get back in favour with the Soviet
filmworld. Octavia promises to help him produce his reel, if only he keeps
up the charade to play her Russian baron friend for a while longer -
especially when she's visited by her aunt Erkentrud (Corinna Harfouch),
industrialist Dr. Humburg (Andreas Döhler), and jack-of-all-trades Bonin
(Daniel Hoesl). This leads to all kinds of awkward situations, culminating
in Octavia shooting a vampire movie with Lyowushka and a beachcomber
(Kyunk-Taek Lie). Jakob, who's cameraman on the film, is in hope this will
bring him closer to Octavia, but when that doesn't happen, he kills
himself once the shoot's over. From them on it falls upon Lyowushka to
take over Jakob's duties, while Octavia gets friendlier and friendlier
with Bonin. Eventually Lyowushka breaks down from exhaustion, and when
Bonin and Octavia find him, they, vampires after all, drink his blood.
This though is witnessed by the spirit of Jakob, who drags over a member
of the Marx reading circle to serve as eye witness - and naturally an
angry mob is quick to form to stake Octavia - but they're stopped just in
time by Lyowushka, who out of genuine love for Octavia promises to present
to them the real vampire within 24 hours. But where can he get someone to
take the fall for Octavia in that short a time? Blutsauger
is a rather weird film indeed, by mixing Karl Marx with comedy and horror
motives, and even though Paul Morrissey has done this better in 1973's Blood
for Dracula, the film at hand sure has its flashes of genius, from
its eccentric characters to its intentionally stilted dialogue that often
has kafka-esque traits to it, to its rather funny anachronisms when it
comes to portraying the 1920s. What keeps the film from true greatness
though is that it lacks proper narrative structure and instead just
meanders about much of the time, to the point where some scenes feel
repetitive. Also, not all leads are given proper character arcs, and with
all these elements being underdeveloped the film runs much too long at
over two hours, no matter huw much of it is chuckle-worthy. It's still
genuinely funny mind you, and some of the satire hits quite where it
hurts, it's just lacking in narrative tension.
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